Dance Of The Lifetime
by thespis
Summary: She is fading away, yet nobody has noticed. She is dying already yet nobody has cared. In this final quest, would the rarest flower put things into proper perspective?
1. The Rarest Flower

**THE DANCE OF THE LIFETIME**

by: thespis

* * *

CHAPTER1:The Rarest Flower

The autumn winds blew softly, and the leaves danced in gentle grace. She smiled peacefully. This is how she wants Konoha to look before she dies. Peaceful, prospering. Behind her she felt her former teammates, each leading a life of his own. Progressing... towards the fulfillment of their dreams.

"Is there anything important you need to tell us?" The impatient query halted her from her dream-filled reverie. She knew that voice too well. And loved its owner too deeply. She smiled serenely against the slowly setting sun.

"The sun sets so slowly, and majestically, a mere mortal could be but brought down to his knees in humble reverence," she whispered softly.

"I beg your pardon, I'm due to meet the Hokage in thirty minutes. Could you hurry and spit out what you're trying to say?" It was his voice again. The voice of Uchiha Sasuke.

"Patience is a virtue you need to learn, Sasuke-kun," she mockingly said, yet a gentle smile belied her sarcasm.

"Ne Sakura-chan, I'm getting hungry. Could we get on with this now?" Naruto whined. She smiled sweetly.

"Just a moment, Naruto, we have to wait for Kakashi-sensei."

"Why are doing this again?" The blonde asked Sasuke as they stepped away.

"No idea."

It took Hatake Kakashi one hour before showing up, as usual. She could only smile as her eyes were greeted by a familiar smoke to reveal the unpunctual jounin. "I'm sorry I'm late guys, I had no idea changing diapers could take one hour." Once again, he had an available excuse. "What is this meeting for again?"

The three men looked up to her expectantly. She grinned despite herself. Only she had the answer. "The Godaime is giving us an A-rank mission," she started.

"Shouldn't she be the one to debrief us?" Sasuke asked pointedly. He didn't want to go, she could tell.

"Well, no. She asked me tell you, as we're to leave early next morning, at 200 hours sharp," she said. "Anyway, Shizune-sama is debriefing us."

"That was all!" Naruto asked dumbfoundedly."You had me waiting for an hour just to tell us that dumb thing?"

The smile she gave him was feral." On the contrary, this dumb thing is most essential."

* * *

It was already dark when she made her way along the winding streets of the district, silent as a cat. Her destination lay no farther, she could already see the gates to the Hokage's Tower. She knew the Godaime would still be there, despite the odd hours, finishing some papreworks. Swiftly she walked inside, and found herself standing before the double oak doors. She knocked thrice. 

"Come in," one voice said. A voice she knew so well. The voice of her mother-figure. Without hesitation she pushed open the doors, and entered.

A look of surprise crossed her mentor's face upon seeing her late-night audience. "Shouldn't you be in bed, preparing for your mission?"

She had to smile. "It's no use anyway. I'm... I'm... I'm scared, shisou. What happens if I survive this?" Tears threatened to spill. She raised her face to the high ceiling above, to stop the tears from falling. "I feel alone, shisou. They hadn't even noticed. And... and... what if I fail?"

The Godaime stopped in her paperworks. "You'll never fail," she said softly. "And you're never alone."

She failed to meet her teacher's eyes. "I am. Alone." She forced a smile to cross her lips, and ran her hands across her hair. "It doesn't matter anyway."

She was gone in a flash, leaving the sagely woman smiling sadly. "It does matter, Haruno Sakura."

* * *

At precisely two o'clock in the morning, four figures stepped up to the borders of Konohagakure. Yes, even the notoriously late Hatake Kakashi arrived on time. Shizune was there, four sets of gadgets in hand. She gave each of them one and a pouch of gold to Kakashi. He looked at her questioningly. "Tsunade wanted to give you allowance, a token of thanks for your service." 

"Exactly what do we have to do, Shizune-nee-chan?" Naruto asked carefully. Somehow he didn't like the idea of Tsunade's token. It gave him the creeps, a bad omen. Shizune frowned at Sakura.

"You haven't told them yet?"

"Chill out, sheez. I didn't know how to tell them," she replied off-handedly. "Matters like this are difficult to handle."

The Hokage's former apprentice heaved a sigh. "There is this girl who contracted a rare disease," she began. Naruto began to listen with avid interest as Sakura wandered off. "Now this girl has done services to Konoha, and Godaime-sama wishes to repay her kindness. She seeks to treat this girl. Now your mission is to find the rarest flower."

"Wait a minute, that is hardly credible," Sasuke said in annoyance. "We're wasting time here."

Sakura, who was returning, heard Sasuke's annoyed remark. "Only the sage of the Lightning Country knows where the rarest flower could be found," she said in sing-song tone. Sasuke glanced at him sharply.

"That's enough," Shizune admonished. " Hatake Kakashi, You are being assigned to captain this mission. Now go. The book says that the flower lives only for a short time." With that she vanished with a puff of smoke, leaving the four to begin their journey.


	2. The Longest Journey

**DANCE OF THE LIFETIME**

by: thespis

* * *

CHAPTER2: The Longest Journey 

They have already quite covered a distance when Naruto began to ask questions. "Ne, Sakura-chan, why are we walking? Shouldn't we be hurrying?"

Sakura smiled sweetly. "The Lightning Country is a long way from here. There is no point in wasting our chakra, Naruto. Besides, I hear this sage doesn't give answers easily. We must reserve chakra in case of emergency."

Hatake Kakashi looked at his sole female ex-student. "Are you sick, Sakura?" He aske. "You act... different.

Sakura only beamed. "Do you think so? Well, I underwent a therapy just last week. Now I treat each day as if it were my last." Naruto stopped in his tracks.

"Creepy."

Sakura smiled "You haven't seen the worst, Naruto. Last night I drafted my last will and testament. And the day before that I arranged for my funeral. I even got Ino to give me a discount on the flowers." Naruto shivered.

"Sakura-chan, stop making such creepy jokes. Makes me shiver with fright," he berated her softly. "You talk as if you're gonna die sooner or later."

"Hey, you'll never know. I'm just starting a conversation, everybody's getting silent here. The weather's fine. The scenery's beautiful..." Sakura's list went on and on. Soon enough, Naruto was already joining here philosophical--if not nonsensical--ideologies and sights. Only two men were not participating the general discussion, Kakashi who was understandably studying the map, and Sasuke.

He wasn't even busy listening to the constant unnecessary chatter his two other teammates were making. He was busy taking in his surroundings. A leaf falling here. Fall... in summer? A puddle by the road. Outrageous boulders by the road. Something was definitely not right. It was like a miising piece of the jigsaw puzzle. And yet, he still couldn't figure out how to put the other pieces. A lot of scenes in the picture weren't right. Lacking. Or misplaced. He tried making eye contact with his teammates. But to no avail. The two were busy chatting, only a huge bomb could've stopped their animated conversation

So he did the only way he could think of. "Damn all cowards. They totally piss me off," he said aloud. Sakura stopped in her tracks.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you earlier, I carry the scroll of charity," she said sheepishly. She scratched the back of her head and shrugged. "A lot of scammers would probably hot on our heels now."

"YOU WHAT!" Naruto nearly screamed. "Can you repeat that just one little bit?"

"Uh, a lot of scammers are probably hot on our heels now?" She asked warily. "That's not a big deal, is that?"

"No," Sasuke said impatiently, "the earlier part."

"I. Have. The. Scroll. Of. Charity." Sakura repeated slowly as if explaining to a ten-year-old.

"Damn," Sasuke and Narutocursed, eyeing the surroundings, feeling entrapped by some invisible force. They saw some nins in a far-off distance, assuming their presence hasn't been felt yet. Their biggest ordeal has yet to start--waiting for the enemies to attack.

"Let's walk," Kakashi suggested. "It won't do better for us if they know they've been busted."

Sakura, gettng the drift, started walking. "Hey Naruto, do you know that only one person truly knows the remedy for the rare disease?" She started conversation with the blonde. The jounin easily caught up with her. "That's why it has a rare name. 'Heaven's Grief.' Wierd, isn't it?"

"Ne, Sakura, why do you know a lot about this mission?" he asked, quizically.

"Well," Sakura answered off-handedly, "Tsunade thought it was only righteous that I know my--my patient's disease. She made me read all scroll she could get her hands on."Suddenly a projectile whizzed silently through,aiming for Sakura.

"Sakura, look out!" Her teammates shouted. She could only shake her head.

"Too slow," she muttered. Deftly she deflected the projectile with her own kunai, launching it straght to the ground. A senbon, with a poison from the looks ofthe liquid staining the soil. "That was suicidal," she cheerfully commented. "Anybody courageous enough to face me fully and fight with me face to face?" she asked, the deadly venom hidden perfectly within the cheerful smile she wore. Naruto looked bewildered as a group of ninjas began closing in on them like a pack of hungry wolves.

"You're lucky," Sakura said gleefully. "I'm feeling a bit cheerful today. More optimistic, actually." She took off from her pocket a pair of fingerless gloves, one red and the other black, and snapped them fit into her hands. "Perhaps I could take on a fight."

There was nothing the boys could do but fight with the gleeful lady-killer. They watched her in between their own fight for life as she hacked and slashed with the retractable claws on her gloves, disappearing and reappearing in a flash, killing mercilessly. Within a matter of minutes, all enemies have been exterminated. And Sasuke has just gotten to his fifth foe. Talk about bloodlust.

"Well, that was satiating," Sakura said as they continued to stare at her. Time passed. "Hey," she protested at their disbelieving stares, "you could never know, that might have been my last fight. Might as well be fulfilling..."

There was no time to comment on her supposedly "last fight" as another wave of ninjas, stronger this time, began to attack them. "Might as well enjoy,"Naruto shrugged, taking on one of the ninjas aiming for his friend. There was a mancal grin on his face, as if killing couldn't have been the best thing... After ramen, that s.

Sasuke sighed. "For all I know, this could be the longest journey I'll ever embark on," he muttered darkly. Quickly he performed a series of handseals and blasted on the nnjas for all he cared.


End file.
